Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men
characters. Thanks also to my good friend Corrinth for the use of the
character Ilehana Xavier.
A/N: All reviews are most definitely welcome. I'd really like to know that people were reading this!
Scene Eleven
Jacobi watched Gambit's face very carefully as he pulled the next rabbit out of his proverbial hat. The image of the manor house still glinted on the monitor.
"Blaze was found, rescued if you will, by a group of vigilante mutants under the control of a powerful telepath named Charles Xavier. These images you see now come from a military associate of mine. The government have been keeping a very close eye on the headquarters of Xavier, this mansion in Westchester, New York. The cover is that it runs as a school for gifted children. In actual fact, the vigilantes who call themselves the X-Men police mutant activity the world over. They aim to control all mutant activity, and will take serious action against mutants who use their powers to do harm..."
Gambit scowled. Vigilante mutants, a mutant police force with their own agenda...
"Blaze is with 'em?"
Jacobi flicked a button again, and more images joined the satellite view of the mansion. Surveillance photographs showing individuals, mutants, in the grounds of the mansion. Gambit reached out and touched the screen with a gloved index finger. Blaze, in every picture his old friend stood. In one she was laughing with a girl with white streaks in her hair. Another showed her talking anxiously with a blue-skinned man with a tail. In yet another, a young, blond tall guy was walking by Blaze's side. Jacobi smiled, and came to stand by Remy's side.
"At first I thought Xavier meant to act as judge and jury for our young friend. She certainly has caused enough damage with her powers for him to warrant it. But so far, he has not harmed her. My feelings are that Xavier has the measure of her; he knows she's too much of a coward to run away from him. And in the meantime, whilst his mutants toy with her friendship, her trust, Xavier is learning more and more about our underworld. Learning more about the truly dangerous mutants, ones who would object to his vigilante actions. Mutants with more reason to fear his X-Men, mutants with dark, dark histories..."
Remy turned away from the screen, he had seen enough. Blaze had betrayed him. She had joined with people who would want him dead. Whilst Blaze may have killed men, it had never really been her fault no matter how much she could not forgive herself. Not every mutant had lack of control to blame for certain untimely deaths...
Jacobi smiled, content. Gambit was buying this hook, line and sinker. Now for the prize move.
"Remy my boy, there is one more thing I would like to offer you." There was pain in those red-on-black eyes, so much pain. Ah well, things are as they must be. "Come with me, I think I can make your day..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They left the office the same way they had come in, back into the atrium. Crossing the ground floor, Jacobi made for the nearest set of stairs up to the gantry level with gambit following. As they neared the steps, another office door opened and another man came towards them.
"Jacobi, Sir." The man's voice was thick with a French accent and too many cigarettes. Noticing Gambit, he stopped in his tracks. "Gambit?"
"Bonjour Pierre. Ca va?"
"Oui, ca va." Pierre did not seem very pleased to see Remy. "What are you doing here ami?"
"Pierre, don't ask ridiculous questions." Jacobi was impatient. "What do you want?" Reluctantly Pierre turned his attention back to Jacobi.
"This Mystique, she say we take on too much with the X-Men. She say we get more troops in, in case they come. Why would they come 'ere?"
"For Remy of course. And it shouldn't be too long now before they try. I trust Mystique, Pierre and so should you. See to the troops, and get Sal to order more weapons. Has Electra finished with the tamper-alert system for the computers?"
"Oui, sir. She has fini."
"Good. Well," Jacobi near snapped at his accomplice, "Get on with it."
Gambit watched the Frenchman leave, and then turned to follow Jacobi up the stairs.
"They will come for me?"
"Of course. Blaze is infatuated my dear Remy. She will want you rescued. And as for the X-Men, what a coup it would be for them to take out the legendary Remy le Beau. But, with your help, they will not succeed."
"I wont hurt Blaze." Gambit frowned, wondering how it had all come to this.
"Not even if she, and her new associates, threaten your life? My dear Remy don't make promises you cannot keep." Jacobi threw open a door, and flicked a light switch. "Welcome to my pride and joy."
Walking in past Jacobi, Gambit took a good look around this new room. A laboratory, with computerised workstations and white walls and tiled floors. It looked very impressive. At the far end a strange table, like the stainless steel ones in mortuaries, lay. Underneath it protected by Perspex sliding doors, six pumps attached six empty vials to six plastic flexes. Four of the flexes disappeared into the table itself. Two ran out, guided by long, steel, jointed arms ending in sockets that would fit needles. Approaching the table, Gambit could see that where the other flexes met the metal, further sockets were positioned that could be raised and lowered as the needles required. There were enough leather straps to pin down even such a large mutant as Crush. At one end, a Perspex shielded computer terminal seemed to control the operation. Underneath it, a motor was housed to drive the six pumps. It was like something out of a horror movie.
"This is my Mutation Accelerator. A handy device; built by my own scientists in Japan and shipped here especially. It runs on a simple principle, there are certain chemical compounds known to induce genetic mutation. Radioactive isotopes, that type of thing. By pumping precise amounts of these chemicals into certain parts of a mutant's body, their own innate genetic instability reacts with the compound to enhance their special abilities." Jacobi ran his chubby fingers over the stainless steel surface almost lovingly. "It is unfortunate that it doesn't work on normal humans. It seems that it requires a certain level of both immune deficiency and genetic instability that humans like me just don't possess. But for you, Remy, it could give you powers beyond your wildest dreams..."
"What do you know of my dreams, Jacobi?" Where had he seen this instrument before? Had he dreamt it? A nightmare, perhaps? Had someone died? Gambit couldn't place the image, nor why the fear on seeing this apparatus had not seemed like his own. Jacobi laughed heartily, sending shivers up Gambit's spine.
"I know you dream the same as I do. You dream of power, control, wealth, and of knowing exactly where you stand." Jacobi placed an arm around the taller man's shoulders amicably. "And I alone can offer you those things, my friend. I alone."
A/N: All reviews are most definitely welcome. I'd really like to know that people were reading this!
Scene Eleven
Jacobi watched Gambit's face very carefully as he pulled the next rabbit out of his proverbial hat. The image of the manor house still glinted on the monitor.
"Blaze was found, rescued if you will, by a group of vigilante mutants under the control of a powerful telepath named Charles Xavier. These images you see now come from a military associate of mine. The government have been keeping a very close eye on the headquarters of Xavier, this mansion in Westchester, New York. The cover is that it runs as a school for gifted children. In actual fact, the vigilantes who call themselves the X-Men police mutant activity the world over. They aim to control all mutant activity, and will take serious action against mutants who use their powers to do harm..."
Gambit scowled. Vigilante mutants, a mutant police force with their own agenda...
"Blaze is with 'em?"
Jacobi flicked a button again, and more images joined the satellite view of the mansion. Surveillance photographs showing individuals, mutants, in the grounds of the mansion. Gambit reached out and touched the screen with a gloved index finger. Blaze, in every picture his old friend stood. In one she was laughing with a girl with white streaks in her hair. Another showed her talking anxiously with a blue-skinned man with a tail. In yet another, a young, blond tall guy was walking by Blaze's side. Jacobi smiled, and came to stand by Remy's side.
"At first I thought Xavier meant to act as judge and jury for our young friend. She certainly has caused enough damage with her powers for him to warrant it. But so far, he has not harmed her. My feelings are that Xavier has the measure of her; he knows she's too much of a coward to run away from him. And in the meantime, whilst his mutants toy with her friendship, her trust, Xavier is learning more and more about our underworld. Learning more about the truly dangerous mutants, ones who would object to his vigilante actions. Mutants with more reason to fear his X-Men, mutants with dark, dark histories..."
Remy turned away from the screen, he had seen enough. Blaze had betrayed him. She had joined with people who would want him dead. Whilst Blaze may have killed men, it had never really been her fault no matter how much she could not forgive herself. Not every mutant had lack of control to blame for certain untimely deaths...
Jacobi smiled, content. Gambit was buying this hook, line and sinker. Now for the prize move.
"Remy my boy, there is one more thing I would like to offer you." There was pain in those red-on-black eyes, so much pain. Ah well, things are as they must be. "Come with me, I think I can make your day..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They left the office the same way they had come in, back into the atrium. Crossing the ground floor, Jacobi made for the nearest set of stairs up to the gantry level with gambit following. As they neared the steps, another office door opened and another man came towards them.
"Jacobi, Sir." The man's voice was thick with a French accent and too many cigarettes. Noticing Gambit, he stopped in his tracks. "Gambit?"
"Bonjour Pierre. Ca va?"
"Oui, ca va." Pierre did not seem very pleased to see Remy. "What are you doing here ami?"
"Pierre, don't ask ridiculous questions." Jacobi was impatient. "What do you want?" Reluctantly Pierre turned his attention back to Jacobi.
"This Mystique, she say we take on too much with the X-Men. She say we get more troops in, in case they come. Why would they come 'ere?"
"For Remy of course. And it shouldn't be too long now before they try. I trust Mystique, Pierre and so should you. See to the troops, and get Sal to order more weapons. Has Electra finished with the tamper-alert system for the computers?"
"Oui, sir. She has fini."
"Good. Well," Jacobi near snapped at his accomplice, "Get on with it."
Gambit watched the Frenchman leave, and then turned to follow Jacobi up the stairs.
"They will come for me?"
"Of course. Blaze is infatuated my dear Remy. She will want you rescued. And as for the X-Men, what a coup it would be for them to take out the legendary Remy le Beau. But, with your help, they will not succeed."
"I wont hurt Blaze." Gambit frowned, wondering how it had all come to this.
"Not even if she, and her new associates, threaten your life? My dear Remy don't make promises you cannot keep." Jacobi threw open a door, and flicked a light switch. "Welcome to my pride and joy."
Walking in past Jacobi, Gambit took a good look around this new room. A laboratory, with computerised workstations and white walls and tiled floors. It looked very impressive. At the far end a strange table, like the stainless steel ones in mortuaries, lay. Underneath it protected by Perspex sliding doors, six pumps attached six empty vials to six plastic flexes. Four of the flexes disappeared into the table itself. Two ran out, guided by long, steel, jointed arms ending in sockets that would fit needles. Approaching the table, Gambit could see that where the other flexes met the metal, further sockets were positioned that could be raised and lowered as the needles required. There were enough leather straps to pin down even such a large mutant as Crush. At one end, a Perspex shielded computer terminal seemed to control the operation. Underneath it, a motor was housed to drive the six pumps. It was like something out of a horror movie.
"This is my Mutation Accelerator. A handy device; built by my own scientists in Japan and shipped here especially. It runs on a simple principle, there are certain chemical compounds known to induce genetic mutation. Radioactive isotopes, that type of thing. By pumping precise amounts of these chemicals into certain parts of a mutant's body, their own innate genetic instability reacts with the compound to enhance their special abilities." Jacobi ran his chubby fingers over the stainless steel surface almost lovingly. "It is unfortunate that it doesn't work on normal humans. It seems that it requires a certain level of both immune deficiency and genetic instability that humans like me just don't possess. But for you, Remy, it could give you powers beyond your wildest dreams..."
"What do you know of my dreams, Jacobi?" Where had he seen this instrument before? Had he dreamt it? A nightmare, perhaps? Had someone died? Gambit couldn't place the image, nor why the fear on seeing this apparatus had not seemed like his own. Jacobi laughed heartily, sending shivers up Gambit's spine.
"I know you dream the same as I do. You dream of power, control, wealth, and of knowing exactly where you stand." Jacobi placed an arm around the taller man's shoulders amicably. "And I alone can offer you those things, my friend. I alone."
